TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — It's not what you want to see when you're driving, but unfortunately, potholes are there.
Julian Augustin will tell you, he believes Columbus Drive is the worst road.
"I tell my daughter, I say, stay to the side, because there's a pothole coming up. So, you know, I'm warning with the potholes. And Before I know, bam, I hit it. I hit it myself. Bam, and there it goes again. Oh, I hit it again," he recalled.
Augustin takes Columbus Drive daily. That's where his business is. Despite the frustration, his tire shop, Payless 4 Tires, might be in the perfect spot.
"It's the best business for Columbus Drive because all the pot holes are on Columbus Drive," he said.
Augustin says customers come in with pothole damage every day.
A viewer also contacted us, telling us to look into the potholes on the stretch of road.
That viewer followed up to say the potholes were getting patched.
Augustin tells me crews repairing pot holes can be just as common as the potholes themselves.
"They're fixing it every day," he said.
Josh Cascio, the City of Tampa Communications Coordinator for Infrastructure & Mobility, says last year, the city repaired more than 5,000 potholes.
"Potholes are one of the top complaints we receive here at the City of Tampa," he said.
If you come across a pothole, you can alert the city. Their Fix It Fast program promises to repair the road within 72 hours.
You can report it through the Tampa Connect app or by calling (813) 274-FAST (3278).
"It takes about five to 10 minutes per pothole. And they'll replace not only the one you reported, but if there's three or four right in the same area, they'll replace those as well," Cascio said.
However, it's important to know that not every hole in the ground is a pothole.
Larger holes are cave-ins, and they're not as easy to address.
"Typically, it's because there's an issue underneath the road, perhaps with a pipe or the dirt and space in between the pipe and the roadway. Those take a lot longer. They can take a few weeks at a time because they have to either dig up the road, they might have to go underneath to make repair," he explained.
The other thing to keep in mind, just because a road is within city limits, that doesn't mean the City of Tampa is the agency that maintains it.
For example, Columbus Drive is maintained by Hillsborough County.
Each agency has its own methods to report a pothole.
Here's where you can report an issue that is on a county road. And if you're not sure who controls which road, don't worry, the agencies are usually talking to one another about reports that come in.
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